Foreign team in city to study gunpowder making process

?GUN POWDER was invented in Asia and this finding led the team to visit Asian countries to locate the tribe, which was engaged in manufacturing gun powder,? said Robert Smith, one of the members of the Danish Galathea III project .

“GUN POWDER was invented in Asia and this finding led the team to visit Asian countries to locate the tribe, which was engaged in manufacturing gun powder,” said Robert Smith, one of the members of the Danish Galathea III project .

Talking to newsmen here today, Robert said as part of the Galathea III project, the team had come to India to study the production of Saltpetre and its effects on the surroundings. He further said Saltpetre, one of the three ingredients of gunpowder, was produced in India from the medieval times till the beginning of the twentieth century. It was then exported to Europe in huge quantity, which helped the western nations fight wars and dominate the world. Robert further said the team had discovered a site, north-east of Agra near the town of Jalesar, where Saltpetre was still being made using traditional methods.

He said, “We have been able to investigate, record and document the Saltpetre manufacturing and this would help us in understanding the technology of the past, along with the work on Sulphur from Island Sand Sicily.” “I hope we would to be able to make gunpowder using traditional methods and techniques, which will then be used in live firing tests to yield valuable new data on the effectiveness of early canals,” he added.

Robert said after three other team members arrived here on November 18, a team would proceed to Lucknow to make on the spot research of gunpowder making there. Dr Subramaniam, a senior professor at the IIT-K’s department of materials and metallurgy and a member of the expedition team, hosted the visiting team members.